The history of E.T.S.V. Scintilla

The founding of Scintilla

On September 9, 1965, the student association for electrical engineering at the University of Twente was founded. During the founding meeting, the name "Scintilla" was chosen by the majority of the voters. Student association, Scintilla, was the third association affiliated with the University of Twente to be founded. The first joint activities organized by Scintilla were "meetings" where speakers gave lectures and members could meet. In 2005, Scintilla has celebrated its 40th anniversary (8th lustrum).

The name 'Scintilla'

"Scintilla" literally means "flash" or "spark." It comes from the Latin word for "spark" and which is derived from flashes of light that cause small particles or radio-active material to fluoresce.

Scintilla throughout the years

The first joint activities organized by Scintilla were "meetings" where speakers gave lectures and members could meet each other. A few years later, on December 12, 1969, Scintilla was officially recognized by her royal highness, queen Juliana (now King-Grandmother).

From its founding, Scintilla has organized both recreational as well as serious activities. From the start there were planned excursions and during the first couple of years they even organized a study-related trip to Scandinavia.

Recreational activities included "droppings," where students were required to find a target using radio-signals. Following its founding, Scintilla soon came with its monthly magazine, the "Scintilla-bulletin." Working together with the electrical engineering college, it came to include faculty news and the latest developments within.

The first issue of "De Vonk appeared on May 1, 1982, shortly after publication of the "Scintilla-bulletin" came to an end. Two experimental issues were published in the first year, after which it was decided to continue publication. The first "Vonk" had been framed and can be found in the Scintilla room.

In the 70's Scintilla established the "Committee for Components Sale, Scintilla" (Dutch: CCVS) to the thrill of the REAL EE-students within the association. In 1983 an agreement followed with colleague association "Inter-Actief" to form the (Dutch) CCVSI, which greatly increased the available number of components. Starting in 1990, the store once again belonged solely to Scintilla. One change led to another and to this day, the store is known as the "STORES" (Scintilla's Trading Organization for Reduced Priced Electronics and Study-needs). The STORES is open 3 days every week during the lunch break and offers numerous components, computer supplies, office supplies, and books to members of Scintilla.

Sociability

Since its founding, Scintilla has been in close contact with colleague (electrical engineering) student associations. In 1989, a Scintillian delegation attended a "Cantus" organized by the Catholic Flemish Student Alliance in Leuven, Belgium. The valiant contingent from Twente there witnessed and participated in a great beer and song-celebration such as had no equal in the Netherlands. Despite the severe headaches the following morning, the delegation unanimously agreed to start a similar tradition back in Twente.

Soon thereafter an hard-core group of enthusiasts successfully organized such a "Cantus" during the second After-Introduction Camp Electrical Engineering (Dutch: NIKE). Thus began the tradition which owns its roots to our colleagues of the South. Scintilla's success in Twente did not go unnoticed and soon other student associations followed suit in organizing similar spectacles of "gezelligheid" for their own members.

Members of honour

Since its founding Scintilla has named several members 'members of honour'.